Zimbabwe Warriors squad named

Published: 09 May 2014

The Warriors technical department yesterday announced the provisional squad that will go into camp next Monday ahead of the upcoming 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) second round first leg against Tanzania.

Zimbabwe is set to travel to Tanzania for the first leg match on the weekend of May 16-18, before hosting the Taifa Stars in the return leg a fortnight later.

The 22-man Warriors squad is made up 16 locally based players with only six foreign based stars.

New faces from the local league include Dynamos centre-back Sydney Linyama as well as the midfield duo of Nqobizitha Masuku and Marshall Mudehwe of Bantu Rovers and FC Platinum respectively, with the rest having previously turned out for the Warriors.

The six foreign based players who have made it into the squad are the Kaizer Chiefs pair of Willard Katsande and Kingston Nkhatha, University of Pretoria goalkeeper Washington Arubi , Mamelodi Sundowns striker Cuthbert Malajila, Tendai Ndoro of Mpumalanga Black Aces and Ajax Cape Town's Simba Sithole.

Warriors manager Shariff Mussa told The Zimbabwe Mail Thursday that the technical team led by head coach Ian Gorowa was confident with the players called into camp, despite not being able to get the squad they would have wanted for the match due to injuries and club commitments.

"We have a squad that we think and feel is the best though we would have wanted to have other players, but they are out either due to injury or because of club commitments and due to the recent Fifa statement, we cannot compel clubs to release the players," said Mussa.

"Knowledge Musona, Khama Billiat and Costa Nhamoinesu are out injured, while the duo of Edward Sadomba and Ovidy Karuru are committed to their clubs with the former playing in the ongoing Orange Caf Champions League, while the latter is still involved in league fixtures," he added.

The Warriors manager said the players called for camp are expected in on Monday with training scheduled to begin on Tuesday, while the final 18 will be announced on Friday prior to the team's departure for Dar es Salaam the same day.

"We are still finalising on some of the details pertaining the camp, but we hope all areas will be covered and we get assistance from government and Zifa so that the technical team will do their job to the best of their ability," said Mussa.

While admitting that the recent developments in the squad, which saw the local football mother body, Zifa failing to live up to their promise of giving the locally based Warriors a chunk of the Chan prize money, Mussa said they would be talking to players about the issue at hand so that they stay focused on the Morocco 2015 mission.

"It will be a challenge, but we have to talk to the players about the bigger picture at hand and not to cry about the past. However, we will make an effort to ensure that the stakeholders give what they would have promised the players. In the meantime, our focus is on qualifying," said Mussa.